Hello again! Thanks for coming to visit my blog. Have a seat on that couch over there. I think you really want to be sitting for this.Listen...it’s time we had a serious talk. Now, don’t give me that look, you’re not in trouble. We just need to have a frank discussion. Yes, I wish it were about Frank Hardy instead, too. But now you’re just stalling.

Dearest Fellow Traveler (can I call you that?), you need a travel agent. In case you missed it because you rolled your eyes too hard, I’ll repeat: you need a travel agent. Hear me out! Unless your hobby is working out travel logistics, booking reservations, calling to confirm, making sure your visas/passports are all up to date, researching which food & beverage plan is best for your cruise, finding transfers to & from the airport, and dealing with the airlines when they inevitably do something to mess up your flight, luggage, or seat, you need a travel agent. (But if that is your hobby, maybe you should become a travel agent! We can talk about that later; I digress…)

Come with me, if you will, on an odyssey. An odyssey to a cramped, sloppy home office/music room/guest bedroom (if we ever let people visit us). Sitting at one of the two desks (when there really should have only been one desk) is brunette, twenty-something in pajamas she’s been wearing for at least a week straight to match the hair she hasn’t washed in weeks. The only possible reason she looks that way is because she’s working hard. (Yes…the only possible reason…)

That was me, months ago when I was trying to name my travel agency. Guys, it’s really hard to pick the perfect word to accompany “Travel” on all your letterheads that perfectly describes (in perfect detail) and encapsulates, perfectly of course, what your business is perfectly all about. There are so many words: Adventurous, Life-Affirming, Zoetic. And yes, Google, zoetic is a word (and I thought it was a pretty good word). But somebody with a much fancier website than I’ll ever have, already had used Zoetic Travel. So zoetic was done for. (If you haven’t already googled it, I’ll tell you what it means at the end of the post. Spoiler: It has nothing to do with poetic.)

I’d worked so hard to find zoetic, that I was crushed when I discovered I probably couldn’t use it. Desperate to not have to work so hard this time around, I searched Google for “symbols of connectedness,” because connectedness is a hugely important aspect to travel. In very little time at all (certainly not the weeks I’d spent laboring over my agency’s name), I came across Anahata.